Mayor tells grads to fight indifference

Gregory Lewis, OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Published 4:00 am, Monday, May 27, 1996

1996-05-27 04:00:00 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Retired San Francisco State political science Professor Donald Castleberry remembers a shy young man wearing big horn-rimmed glasses who stood out in his classroom because "he was obviously not completely at ease with the metropolitan environment."

That young man in Castleberry's American government class in 1952 is now the 62-year-old mayor of San Francisco. He unquestionably has adapted well to The City and its sophisticated ways.

Willie Lewis Brown Jr., it might be said, also learned to master California government. As speaker of the Assembly, he served the longest tenure in California history.

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On Sunday, Brown delivered the main address at the 95th commencement at San Francisco State University, the school where he received his bachelor of arts degree in 1955.

Feeling nostalgic, Brown talked about "the golden years of young people's involvements" and challenged the graduates to make "a major effort to redirect this nation" as previous youthful generations had done.

Community and commitment

Citing the politics of indifference he said were promoted by
Republicans Pat Buchanan
and
Newt Gingrich
, the mayor urged San Francisco State's Class of 1996 to embrace community, commitment and concern.

"You must become a part of that group that will make it uncomfortable forever for Pat Buchanan and people like Pat Buchanan to even consider to take themselves seriously," Brown said.

"You are in the vanguard of that youthful movement," Brown said. "It is now your responsibility to make the transition . . . away from indifference."

He added later, "'When things like affirmative action are challenged, there can be no room for any debate on that issue. It must be addressed and it must be addressed aggressively."

Among the 6,117 students in the Class of 1996 was Rose Coleman, a 55-year-old postal payroll manager who retired from her job Saturday after 33 years.

Coleman received a bachelor's degree in sociology Sunday and plans to begin work on her master's degree in the fall.

Astronomer R. Paul Butler, discoverer of two new planets outside Earth's solar system, was honored as Alumnus of the Year. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and Brown were given the Presidential Medal.

Brown's only option

Brown said San Francisco State was significant in his development, for if no other fact than that "it was the only place I could get in."

The mayor explained that his all-black high school in Mineola, Texas, offered no college preparatory classes, leaving him with the equivalent of a 10th-grade education.

On Sunday, Brown told the graduating class, "I knew early on that that was not an appropriate place to be. I had not earned the right to that hell, and there wasn't any reason why I should continue in that hell."

Despite his early educational setbacks, Brown did well at S.F. State and went on to graduate from Hastings College of Law. He became a successful legislator and attorney.

Castleberry, who was unable to attend Sunday's commencement, is proud of the way his student turned out and modestly said, "I don't think I was responsible for it. But gee whiz, it's interesting that he took my class in 1952."

Brown remembered a professor who was "jovial and always made it interesting and entertaining."

The professor still has his grade book from Brown's class, but won't give details of Brown's performance.

"He got a good passing grade," said Castleberry. "He did all right, coming from the environment he did and the strange environment he was just getting started in. I think he did well.

"He was politically curious, but he didn't overpower the class in terms of monopolizing time," Castleberry recalled.

Castleberry, an Oklahoma native who taught at S.F. State from 1948 until 1980, remembered comparing notes after class with Brown about picking cotton - a job each had done growing up in the South.

Following Brown's career

"We used to chat about picking cotton, compare cost and conditions. He picked in Texas. I picked in Oklahoma," Castleberry said.

He followed his former student's career after Brown graduated in 1955, getting second-hand reports as Brown made his way through law school. Later, he watched Brown as an assemblyman and then Assembly speaker.

"You feel a sense of interest in the fact a student did do so well and has become so prominent," the retired professor said. "Not as a result of my class. But I knew him and watched his career. He was the No. 2 political figure in the state. It's gratifying. I've been very happy at times with the positions he taken. Other times, the courses taken would have been a little different," he said with a gentle laugh.

"Of course, nothing about Willie was born to blush unseen," said Castleberry. "He isn't shy about sharing. It's terribly interesting from one who's seen him from the beginning."

The professor didn't know that the cotton-picking kid from Texas would rise to such political heights.

"He was bright. I suspected that at the time. He had potential. I didn't know how much. He was rather shy. But obviously it was there. I think the embryo at that point was so early in its stage, I just didn't see it. I didn't see anything to the contrary, but it just didn't occur to me then," the professor said.

at the beginning of commencement exercises Sunday. Among the graduates is civil engineering major Elliane Tarava, left, who decorated her mortarboard with a replica of the Golden Gate Bridg&lt;

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